Heart and Soul
by Diamondinsanity
Summary: Seventeen year old Rachel Berry was on her way to becoming a Broadway star when she died at the exact same time Noah Puckerman was born. And so instead of moving on, she's stuck haunting the boy she died trying to help.
1. Prologue: Supernatural Babysitter

**Heart and Soul**

Notes: The idea for this is loosely based off the movie _Heart and Souls_, which is also where the title comes from. If you haven't seen _Heart and Souls_, I completely recommend watching it. Robert Downey Jr. is AMAZING in it.

Disclaimers: I do not own _Glee_, and I do not own _Rent_, and I sure as hell do not own _Heart and Souls_. I just love them all and decided to bend them all to my will. And sadly I don't own Anthony Rapp or Mark Salling either.

* * *

_Prologue_

1993

New York City. Center of the Universe. Times are shitty, but I'm pretty sure they can't get worse. A smile lingered on Rachel Berry's face as the lyrics from rehearsal earlier still spun about her mind. Suddenly dropping out of high school and forcing her way onto Broadway wasn't looking like the worst idea she ever had. Here she was, proving her fathers wrong and, working with a genius. Jonathan Larson was a great man, and this rock opera of his was going to redefine Broadway; she just knew it. Being cast as Maureen was the biggest break she'd ever gotten, and alright, so they were still just in workshops and they were nowhere near close enough to making it off-Broadway yet, let alone onto Broadway, but it was a start, and Rachel loved it. Finally her life was turning out they way she wanted it to; everything was going according to plan.

Still humming _Santa Fe_ under her breath, she changed out of her sweaty rehearsal clothes and into her street clothes. She grabbed her bag, and waved a cheery goodbye to Anthony before heading out onto the street. Her plan was to call her fathers from the payphone on the corner to check in with them, and then head home to her shitty apartment. Sure, it wasn't much right now, but once _Rent _got picked up, she knew she was going to be a star and was going to be able to live somewhere amazing, but for now she'd suffer through having her shower and her kitchen in the same room. For now.

She was half-way to the payphone when a pregnant woman waddled into her. Before Rachel could even complain, the woman grabbed her by the shoulders, her fingers digging into flesh as she moaned out in pain. "I'm sorry. So sorry." The woman quickly apologized, looking sheepish at randomly grabbing a stranger.

Rachel stared at her in complete and utter horror as she realized the severity of the situation. "Are you… Are you in labor?" She asked, glancing down at the woman's legs, like she was looking for her bloody show or her water breaking or all that other stuff she enjoyed learning about in school until she dropped out because of her big break. Nervously she looked back at the woman. "It is completely inappropriate for you to be wandering about like this in your current condition. You should already be in the hospital and-"

The woman's moaning as another contraction hit her cut off Rachel's speech. She grabbed tightly onto her again as she rode through the pain. "Cab." She suddenly panted out. "I can't get a cab to stop for me."

Nodding, Rachel dragged the woman over towards the curb, put two fingers between her lips, and whistled. Loudly. Immediately a cab stopped. Quickly Rachel hauled the woman into the cab. As she opened the door, another contraction hit.

"I'm not going to make it." She moaned.

"Yes you are!" Rachel encouraged as she put the woman in the cab. "Take her to the closest hospital." She instructed, making to close the cab door.

"No! You have to come with me!" The woman begged before her face contorted in pain. "Please!"

Rachel glanced towards her path to the payphone before looking back to the woman, realizing she couldn't leave her. If she was in labor, she was fairly certain that the last thing she would want was to be alone. "Sure." She relented. "I'll just get in on the other side just in case you go into labor. I watched a documentary on live childbirth. I'm sure I can figure out how to deliver your child if needed."

A look of horror passed over the cabbie's face. "Oh, no, no, no, lady! Not in _my_ cab."

Rachel ignored him, and instead closed the door and ran around to the other side of the cab. She didn't hear the honking until the headlights were bearing down on her and it was too late.

There was a sickening crunch.

A rush of cold air.

The sound of a baby crying.

Rachel's world went black.

* * *

When she woke up she was in the hospital. The strange thing was that she wasn't hooked up to any machines. And even stranger, she was stranding in the maternity ward, right next to the glass window that looked into the nursery. Weird. Suddenly she was very aware that something wasn't right here. She was slightly psychic, you know. That's why she had no qualms about dropping out of high school in order to achieve fame. She knew she was going to be somebody, and soon.

A nurse moved down the hallway and Rachel approached her.

"Excuse me, ma'am?"

The nurse ignored her.

Anger flared through Rachel and she was about to stalk after the woman and demand that she speak to her, but she saw another nurse pushing a baby towards the nursery. Maybe she'd have more luck with her.

"Excuse me?"

This nurse ignored her, too. Except… Except this nurse walked RIGHT through her! As though she wasn't even standing there. As though she was a…

No! It wasn't possible. She couldn't be… She wasn't… No… She wasn't a…

"NO! NO! NO! NO! NO!" She screamed out, running frantically through the ward, wanting someone, anyone to notice her, to calm her down, to tell her that she wasn't dead.

No one even reacted.

Still freaking out, she ran through the hallways of the hospital, determined to prove she wasn't dead. She couldn't be dead. She was only seventeen years old! She never finished school! She had no friends. No boyfriends. She was still a virgin! She couldn't die a virgin! How tacky was that? And the show! What about _Rent_? It was her chance to be a star! She was never going to be a star now. And her dads! She never got to call them and tell them she was making a name for herself. They didn't know she'd been happy.

No. No. No!

She couldn't be dead.

But she kept remembering those damn headlights. And that sound. God. Had that been her? Was that crunching sound her body being crushed?

Oh my God.

She was dead. She was dead. She was DEAD!

Frantically, she threw herself at the front doors of the hospital, determined to make it to her fathers and tell them she'd been happy. They needed to know!

God, she couldn't be dead. Her life had only just begun!

But as soon as she walked out the front doors, she found herself standing right back in the maternity ward, standing in front of the nursery again.

"Of course." She whined, glaring up at the ceiling. "This is because I'm Jewish, isn't it?! I know my life already! I don't feel like I need to know what I did and what I should have done better!"

Her rant was cut off when she overheard one of the nurses ask the other nurse, "Did you hear about the accident victims that were brought in last night?"

That caught Rachel's attention and she walked right though the glass window and into the nursery.

Weird.

She wasn't going to be getting used to that anytime soon…

"A woman gave birth right next to a hit and run."

The other nurse gasped. "No way!"

The first nurse nodded excitedly. "And apparently the girl was some up and coming Broadway starlet. The show had just gotten picked up for the off-Broadway circuit."

"That's some shitty luck."

Rachel stared at them. It had gotten picked up? They'd gotten picked up?

No! No! No! No!

This wasn't fair! She was so close. Why now? Why?

"Which baby was born on scene?" The second nurse asked, glancing over at the babies.

The first nurse glanced down at her clipboard. "The Puckerman boy."

Curiously, Rachel moved around until she found the right baby. She wrinkled her nose at the sight of the wrinkly little baby with the huge tuft of brown hair, and his hand in his mouth. "I died trying to help you?" She asked incredulously. "I died because of you? You can't even speak yet and you're already kind of a jerk." She ran her fingers over his hair, trying to flatten his Mohawk looking tuft, but her fingers ghosted right through. "It isn't fair that you get to live while I don't."

Suddenly the baby's eyes flew open, and Rachel could have sworn he was looking right at her. Her theory was only confirmed when he burst into tears.

"Oh my God."

Could he hear her? Was he the only person who could hear her?!

The nurses looked worriedly over at the baby. "Poor thing. Imagine growing up knowing you were born at the exact same time the person trying to help deliver you died…"

"He's going to grow up to be neurotic."

Rachel stared at Baby Puckerman. "This must be why I'm still here." She realized. "We must have a psychic connection. I died trying to help you, and now I'm bound to protect you." She sighed dejectedly. "Why couldn't you have waited to be born until after I won at least one of my many Tonys?"

The baby started crying harder and one of the nurses moved to soothe him.

"Or maybe this is all just a coincidence…" She mused.

The baby's eyes looked like they were focused on her as he cried. She sighed again. "Or maybe I'm Rachel Berry: Supernatual babysitter."

He cried even harder at that.

So, Rachel did the only thing she knew how to do: she started singing.

Immediately the baby stopped crying.

All she could do was stare at him. This was turning out to be the worst day ever. First she died, and now the only person who could see her was a baby?

The song was wrong. The times were shitty and they could only get worse.


	2. Chapter 1: Complicated Childhood

**Heart and Soul**

Notes: The idea for this is loosely based off the movie _Heart and Souls_, which is also where the title comes from. If you haven't seen _Heart and Souls_, I completely recommend watching it (but you don't need to see it to understand this fic. I just borrow the basic idea of it). Robert Downey Jr. is AMAZING in it. I also borrow a little bit from _Drop Dead Fred_, and will eventually be borrowing a little bit from _Ghost_. Oh, and the rating has been moved up just because my version of Puck has a bit of a potty mouth...

Disclaimers: I do not own _Glee_, and I do not own _Rent_, and I sure as hell do not own _Heart and Souls_, _Drop Dead Fred_, or _Ghost_. I just love them all and decided to bend them all to my will. And sadly I don't own Anthony Rapp or Mark Salling either.

* * *

Present

The guidance counselor's office made Noah Puckerman yearn for the days when he'd been constantly shuffled from psychiatrist from psychiatrist. Every time he met with this doctor, or that psychologist he found their offices all looked pretty similar. You know, walls painted some calm, soothing color, framed degrees on the walls, weird toys sitting around, like stress balls and wooden puzzle blocks. One time there had even been a creepy doll looking head that the therapist had put on top of the desk and told him to imagine it was his "imaginary friend."

Fuck. If only she were imaginary, that would be the end of all his problems. Hell, she was the reason why she was in this freaky chick's office to begin with. This was all Rachel Berry's fault, but he didn't want to think about her right now. Instead, he forced himself to think about how uncomfortable Emma Pillsbury's office made him feel.

What made the school think that it would be a good idea to give the guidance counselor the glass walled office? It made this whole situation worse than it already was. Dude, what if another member of the football team walked by and saw him talking to her? Sure, he knew he was a stud, and that the football team would suck even harder than it already did without him, but he didn't want them knowing his business. He'd worked very hard over the years to hide the fact he'd been sent to numerous shrinks by his mother because according to the doctors he had paranoid schizophrenia. Apparently, talking to yourself and then trying to convince people it was just the ghost who won't leave you alone because she's an annoying little freak wasn't normal. It made you schizophrenic, obviously, despite the fact he totally wasn't crazy.

He was just cursed. Yeah, that was a good way to describe his relationship with Rachel. He was cursed, and he worked really hard to make sure that no one else figured out about her again. After all, he wasn't going to make the same mistake twice. He'd told his best friend, Finn, who told his mom, which had gotten him locked up at the age of twelve for two months. No way in hell was he going to make that mistake again. So, he worked really hard at making sure no one knew about Rachel, which was why he'd given up on homework. Having Rachel in his life was a full-time job.

Once again, he pushed the Rachel related thoughts out of his mind, as well as trying to forget that he pretty much was sitting in a fishbowl of an office where all of William McKinley High School could see him if they really wanted to. What? Had Figgins cut the remodeling budget forcing them to forgo walls in here? It was making him uncomfortable and he was starting to use Rachel words in his head again.

Quickly he forced himself not to think, and instead focused on the pamphlets sitting behind the woman. _Ouch! That Stings_? He blinked. What stung exactly?

His eyes moved to the one next to it. _Divorce: Why Your Parents Stopped Loving You_. Shit. She gave these things out to kids? Damn, she was the worst counselor he'd met with so far, and that was saying a lot. He'd had a lot of weird counselors.

_I Can't Stop Touching Myself_. Now, that one sounded like a personal problem to him. Did this lady really talk about this shit? What the fuck? And more importantly, where the hell did this lady get all these pamphlets from? Did she have them custom made?

_Radon: The Silent Killer_. That one made him snicker slightly, and he didn't even know what radon was. But he did know that he kind of wanted to steal that one and read it to Rachel, if only to piss her off. Apparently pointing out to a ghost all the other ways she could have died was a really shitty thing to do. Who knew?

He didn't get to read the title of the next one, because suddenly, the counselor was looking right at him, and it completely claimed his attention. Immediately he didn't like the way she was looking at him. There was something wrong about it, and he knew all about wrong. He was currently having an affair with three different cougars, if only to embarrass Rachel. She was also the reason why he'd shaved his hair into a Mohawk. Everything in his life revolved around the best way to annoy the reason he was sitting in this office. Freaking Rachel Berry.

"Noah," Miss Pillsbury began, still looking at him with that strange look on her face. "Do you know why I called you in here today?

"Puck." He instantly corrected the counselor. As long as he was in here, she might as well get his name right at least.

She blinked at him for a moment, looking rather confused with his sudden interjection. "I'm sorry?" She asked, the strange look immediately gone.

"The only people who call me Noah are my mom and Ber-" He caught himself just in time from admitting to a counselor that a dead girl named Rachel talked to him. Yeah, the last thing he needed was to be carted off to the hospital and shot up with clozapine or thorazine. Been there, done that, and it wasn't as fun as it looked in the movies. "Barbara, my sister."

Miss Pillsbury looked confused again and glanced down at his file. "It says here that your sister's name is Sarah…" She said slowly, looking as though she were wondering if she misread the file.

"It is." Puck told her casually. "But she's going through a Barbara Streisand phase and makes us all call her Barbara." Since Finn screwed him over all those years ago, he'd since learned how to lie, and how to lie well. Lying and crime were his two best skills now because of that.

She looked appeased with his answer. "Alright, Puck." She made a slight face as she said his name, but continued on with her line of questioning nonetheless. "Do you know why I called you in here today?"

He looked thoughtful for a moment as he pretended to think about it. Oh, he had a very good idea why she'd called him in here today, and he would bet money that it had something to do with a ghost named Rachel Berry. But he wasn't going to admit to talking to a ghost to the deer-eyed woman with the weird pamphlets. "For trying to have sex with Santana Lopez under the bleachers?" He asked in his best, '_I have no idea what you're talking about'_ voice. It was something he'd perfected over the years.

"No." Emma said seriously, and it looked as though she had more to say, but Puck really didn't give her that chance.

"For skipping math class again?" He tried, honestly hoping that if he pissed her off enough, she would forget the real reason why she'd called him in here and kick him out of her office.

"No." And once again she tried to say more, but he didn't let her.

"For throwing that gay kid in the dumpster?"

Miss Pillsbury took a deep breath, looking flustered by all the things he'd admitted to. "Please stop guessing." She begged him before glancing down at his file and then back up at him. "Noah. I mean, Puck, I know you know why I called you in here. Mr. Schuester knows you saw him yesterday."

Puck sighed and slouched down into his chair. How the hell was he going to get himself out of this one? There were only so many times he could get out of talking to himself in public before he got himself institutionalized again. He didn't need this. Not now. He could already hear the conversation with the doctors.

_Now, Noah, why aren't you getting better?_

_Because he's not ill. And this societal need to impose rules and regulations upon speech and beliefs is completely ridiculous. I could report you. My dads are gay. I know some lawyers who would be appalled at Noah's treatment here._

_He can't hear you, Berry!_

_What was that Noah?_

He pushed the hallucination to the back of his mind and instead forced himself to focus on how to get Miss Pillsbury to drop this. His first thought was to try to seduce her, but she didn't look like the type, which left him trying to figure out something that wasn't as easy. Shit.

"Mr. Schuester said he heard you talking to yourself in his classroom. He said you've been doing that a lot lately. Actually… A lot of teachers have mentioned that they've seen you talking to yourself. And I took a look at your file, and-"

"You can't do that!" He tried to interject, slightly pissed at himself for letting it slip how much this bothered him. God, if it got out that he spent time in the nuthouse, simple high school hazing would be the least of his concerns.

"Noah," She began in a lecture sounding voice, completely ignoring the fact that he'd specifically asked her not to call him Noah. It reminded him of the doctors he'd been forced to visit as a kid. "You've been hospitalized six times for hallucinations." Her lips pressed into a line, and she looked distressed for a moment. "And I don't think I have a pamphlet for you if you're suffering from hallucinations again…"

He sighed in frustration at the counselor who wasn't guiding him as well as the name suggested. What was with that anyway? "My best friend was a ghost." He deadpanned to her. "I had a complicated childhood. It's no big whoop or anything, Miss P. I'm cured. It's a miracle. Hallelujah."

Blinking in complete confusion, Miss Pillsbury looked like she didn't quite know how to respond to him. Her mouth opened, and then closed. It opened, and then closed again. She honestly didn't know what to say to him, and he could tell. This was his perfect opportunity to get the hell out of here. He just had to figure out how. Puck glanced helplessly around the fishbowl room as he tried to think.

_What would Berry do?_

Then it hit him. What would Berry do! God, he'd only spent his entire childhood with the crazy bitch. He knew all the fucking words to _Rent_ before he knew his ABCs for Christ's sake. Why hadn't he thought of thinking like her before?

"I was running lines for a play." He announced, shooting the counselor his best '_are you really that much of an idiot? Thinking I was talking to myself? Please'_ look that Rachel had coached him on after Finn had gotten him into all that trouble.

She blinked for a moment, and stared thoughtfully at him. "What?" She asked sounding very confused about the whole situation.

Quickly Puck racked his mind for what play he could have been possibly running lines for. What had Mr. Schue walked in on yesterday? He couldn't exactly remember. All he knew was that he'd been in an empty classroom and Rachel had been bitching at him because he wouldn't sign up for choir. Why the fuck would _he_ want to be in a choir class for anyway? He was a stud, and a football player. Not a choir fairy. Just because she missed singing in an ensemble didn't mean he was going to join a group of gay boys and ugly, fat chicks just so she could feel better about her life. And maybe, just maybe, he'd started singing _Rent_ at her just because he knew how much it pissed her off…

"I'm planning on auditioning for _Rent_ up in Columbus." He lied, feeling proud with himself for coming up with somewhat of a plausible lie. Shit. He didn't even care right now how believable the lie was. He just needed to get as far as possible away from the freaky counselor as possible.

Thankfully the bell rang then, and Puck jumped to his feet immediately. "Gotta go. Bye." And with that he literally bolted from the office. He couldn't do this anymore. He swore that covering up for the fact that he had an annoying ghost for a freaky pet was going to _actually _drive him crazy one of these days. This meant one thing and one thing only: he really needed to get rid of Rachel Berry before she made his life more of a living hell than it already was.

Instead of going to class, he went to the boys' bathroom, desperate to do anything to avoid class. Even though he didn't want to think about it that counselor had really freaked him out. He couldn't go through his whole life trying to hide the existence of Rachel from everyone he met. Maybe if he ignored her for awhile, she'd get the hint and stop haunting him. She couldn't literally recite every musical from memory like she'd threatened the last time he tried it, could she?

The thoughts were pushed from his mind, and he busied himself at the urinal. He'd take a leak and then he'd spend the rest of the afternoon sleeping off his conversation with Miss Pillsbury in the nurse's office. It sounded like a reasonable plan. Or at least that's what he was thinking as he stared blankly at the wall in front of him.

"So? What did she want?"

Puck jumped nearly a foot in the air at the voice. "Holy shit, Berry!" He complained, his distraction causing him to accidentally spray the wall instead of the urinal for a moment. "Don't do that!" And he quickly finished peeing, and zipped his pants back up. "Haven't we had the '_boys bathrooms are off limits_' talk already this week?" He checked the stalls to make sure they were alone in the bathroom. An audience was the last thing he needed at the moment. "And dude, you can't keep talking to me at school."

Rachel gave him a slight shrug, idly picking at the light pink sweater she'd died in seventeen years prior. Everything he just said, she'd heard before and she had a peculiar way of just ignoring the things she didn't really want to hear. "Is that why you were called in during your history class?" She suddenly looked proud about something. "Which I stayed and listened to the rest of. Nixon was a very intriguing man. I paid close attention to the lecture, and I'll dictate the notes to you later this evening."

Of course. He stops doing homework because of her, and she comes up with new ways to force him into doing his homework.

She stared pointedly at him for a moment. "Aren't you going to wash your hands?" She waited until he started grumbling at her, and washed his hands before asking again, "What did she want?"

"To know if I was going to go psycho and start killing people."

The ghost's gaze narrowed as she stared at him. "Noah Puckerman!" She scolded. "What did she really want?"

"To know if I was crazy again because no one else can hear you!" He yelled at her, feeling the frustration that accompanied spending time with her, washing over him. "You can't keep popping up at school all the time. Go to the place where all the fucking ghosts go to pass their time and leave me alone!"

Rachel's face fell as she stared at him. "But I thought you like having me around. I give you the answers to your exams since you insist on not studying." Her lip trembled for a moment. "I thought I was helping you."

Puck took a deep breath, and reminded himself that he could not strangle Rachel because she wasn't real. Well… She was real. At least she was real in theory… "Talking to me, and causing scenes when I'm hanging with my friends is not helping, Berry."

Her eyes flashed dangerously for a moment. "Hanging?" She asked him incredulously. "You were nailing someone's lawn furniture to their roof! Excuse me for not wanting you to engage in such a juvenile, not to mention completely rude, activity."

"You're making my life impossible!" He snapped, scrubbing his hands over his face.

She threw her hair over her shoulder. "I don't see how…" She cocked her head to the side, as though she were thinking about the ways she made Puck's life worse. Frankly, she thought he was blessed to have her in his life. Otherwise he'd be failing school. Who else would sing at him nonstop until he got out of bed, and who would help him cheat through his classes even though it was completely immoral? He needed her to survive; he just didn't see things the same way that she did.

Noah groaned in frustration before shooting her a look. "Alright. Let me spell it out for you." He said slowly. "You are dead. No one else can see you. And no one else can hear you. When you pull stunts like this at school, people think I'm talking to myself, and they want to take me away in a straight jacket." He glared at her. "Again."

"Once." Rachel said dismissively. "That happened once."

"And I had to switch schools six times because of you."

"And what does that have to do with me, Noah?" Rachel asked him innocently. "You asked to switch schools all those times because you thought your peers were talking badly about you behind your back, and you aren't as secure in your manliness as you were trying to prove to that horrible girl you've been trying to court for the past couple of weeks." She shot him a defiant look. "I'm only helping you."

"Well, don't." He snapped, completely frustrated with his resident ghost before storming out of the bathroom, and knocking over an incoming freshman in the process.

Rachel sighed as she watched him leave "But it's my job!" She screamed out after him, knowing very well he could still hear her. "I don't have a choice. We're stuck with each other!"

Puck froze in the middle of the mostly empty hallway before responding lowly, "Yeah, we'll see about that."


	3. Chapter 2: A Normal Life

**Heart and Soul**

Sometimes Rachel wondered if being a ghost was any different than being an insomniac. Either way, she couldn't sleep, and hadn't been able to sleep for seventeen years. It made her think of that horrible vampire movie Santana had forced Noah into watching, the one where the vampires sparkled in the sun and where vampires didn't sleep. The only difference was that they could actually touch things, and could use the time they weren't sleeping productively: Rachel didn't get that same luxury.

Most of her nights were spent testing the limitations of her curse. When she'd first become a ghost, she'd spent a lot of time trying to get away from Noah and find the afterlife or whatever the hell it was that was waiting for her, but now she knew better. The closest she'd ever come to the afterlife was when she went to what Noah called _The place where ghosts go_. At first she only went to that place when Noah got really mad at her and wished her away, but over the years she'd both learned how to keep herself from going there, and how to go there when she really didn't want to deal with him. Like when he was doing those despicable acts with married women. It was nothingness. Absolute nothingness. Darkness, and blackness. She liked to think it meant she was suspended in time, but she hated it. Mostly because it was like a dreamless sleep. There was nothing there and it scared the hell out of her. If that was the afterlife, then she wanted to haunt Noah until he died, too, and then they could go there together. She really didn't want to be alone in her afterlife…

Still, that didn't stop her from testing just how far this bond she shared with Noah was; how big her leash really was. In the beginning, she really couldn't go more than fifty feet away from Noah without either being yanked right back to him or winding up in _the place where ghosts go_, but now she found that she could pretty much wander through any building she wanted as long as Noah was with her somewhere in the building, which really helped when he ditched classes and slept in the nurses office. This allowed her to mentally take notes for him (she had a photographic memory, which really anyone can develop if they work on it hard enough; she read it in a study once), and help him to pass his classes. Because really, the boy hasn't been to a math class (save for the exams) in two years. He really needed her in order to stay on the football team, and in school. He'd fail without her, and she needed to make sure he didn't fail.

A part of her was convinced that her whole purpose for being on earth wasn't to protect him, like she'd originally thought when she'd realized she was bound to him, but to help him succeed in life. She never got to live her dreams to their fullest, and she was determined to help him live his so she could move on.

Most of her night was spent wandering the length of the Puckerman's backyard, grateful their house was so small that she was able to go outside. She had all the constellations memorized long ago, and now liked to lie in the backyard and make up her own stories about them. Aside from not being able to sleep, being dead also meant she never got cold, and could lay around and never feel a thing. Besides, being outside gave her something to do at night other than sitting in Noah's room, watching him sleep. According to him it was strange and creepy, but she honestly didn't see anything wrong with it. She liked watching him sleep. It was comforting to her because it meant she wasn't alone. Even when he was snoring, he was there, which was comforting since he was her only real tie to the world.

It was just after five in the morning when Rachel finally floated up into the second story of the house. She literally poked her head into Sarah's room to make sure the younger Puckerman was still sleeping before moving into Noah's room. Gingerly she perched on the edge of his bed, which in all actuality for her, was hovering about a half of an inch above his comforter since she would otherwise just go through his bed, but she liked the normality of pretending the bed was shifting beneath her weight. "Oh, Noah." She called out in a sugary sweet voice. "Time to get up."

He didn't move.

"Noah!"

He still continued sleeping.

Rachel pursed her lips together before she began singing an Italian aria. Loudly. Right in his face.

He still kept on sleeping as though he couldn't hear her.

Frowning, she moved closer to the bed and inspected the sleeping teen. Immediately she raised an eyebrow when she saw that he had ear plugs in. Oh. So it was going to be one of those kinds of days? Rachel knew how to deal with these kinds of days. After all, she'd known him for seventeen years. He'd seriously had tried to ignore her fifty-seven times, and the longest period of time he'd ever been able to ignore her had been those three months he'd been in the mental institution when he was twelve. And the only reason why that had worked was that they had him so drugged up on different schizophrenic medications that he couldn't even tell anyone his name let alone see her. In fact, he started getting Parkinson's Disease due to an overloading of medications since schizophrenic medications can cause those symptoms. It was difficult seeing him like that, but that had been the only time he could block her out. She didn't know why he was trying to block her out today, but she wasn't going to let him; she hated being alone.

"NOAH!" She screeched at him, her lips at his blocked ears. "NOAH! NOAH! NOAH!" And the next thing she knew, the radio suddenly turned on behind her. A smile slid onto her features. Now, she didn't exactly know how to move things on purpose, but sometimes when she got upset with Noah, it just happened. She really needed to work on figuring out how to do it on purpose though… Still, the sound of his radio filled the room, and she turned her attention to the radio, working really hard on getting the volume knob to turn higher. There it went: higher and higher and higher and he was still sleeping!

Suddenly the door to his room flung open. "NOAH!" This time it was Ruth's voice, screaming at her son. The woman stomped over to the stereo and slammed it off before storming over to Noah. She shook her son awake. "NOAH!"

He blinked in confusion as he slowly sat up before bolting up right, his eyes moving wildly from his mother to Rachel and then back to his mother. Immediately he popped his ear plugs out before shooting his mom a look. "What, ma?" He whined at her.

Ruth glared at him. "That radio of yours is going off at ungodly hours again, Noah."

"I honestly wonder however that happened…" Rachel murmured innocently over Ruth's voice.

Groaning, Noah pulled his pillow over his face. "Would the both of you just go away?" He mumbled, still mostly half-asleep.

"Oh, Noah…" Rachel groaned, slapping a hand over her face. Of all the things for him to say, he had to go and mention her in front of his mother. If he got them locked up again, she was going to recite Shakespeare at him until he had all of _King Lear_ memorized. Or maybe she'd recite the complete works or Cole Porter. That had promise.

Ruth's gaze narrowed and she pulled the pillow off Noah's face, staring down intently at her son. "Have you taken your Abilify yet?"

He blinked up at her, looking like he wished he could just go back to sleep. "Ma, it's not even really morning." And by the look on his face, Rachel could tell that he was still pretty much asleep, and wasn't entirely aware of the words coming out of his mouth yet.

"Noah." Ruth shook her son until he was completely awake and staring up at her, bleary eyed. "Have you been taking your Abilify?"

His gaze moved from his mother and then to Rachel before wetting his lips and looking back at his mother, who did not miss the fact he'd looked past her. "I'm out." He lied. Abilify tended to find its way into the dumpster down the street before even being opened. Even though it made him high, it also made him shake too much to play any of the numerous sports he liked, which was why he nearly almost threw it or way. Or sold it, which Rachel did not approve of.

Ruth nodded slowly at her son, glancing over towards where Rachel was standing before looking back at him. "I'll order you some more before work today." She ran a hand over her son's hair. "You need to get better, Noah. How are you supposed to give me grandchildren, if all the nice Jewish girls think you're crazy?"

"Yeah, Noah. How on earth are you going to spend the rest of your life with a nice Jewish girl?" Rachel smiled at him. "Aside from me, of course."

He ignored both Jewish women and instead climbed out of his bed. "I'm going for a run."

Rachel beamed at him. "Oh good. Every day should start out with some form of strenuous exercise, and we didn't go running yesterday. And Broadway stars can't be out of shape."

"You're dead." Noah muttered under his breath. "You don't breathe…"

His mother shot him a funny look as she left his room. "What was that, Noah?" She asked, that worried look still lingering on her brow.

"Nothing." Noah tried to reassure her. "Nothing." And as soon as his mother was out of the room, he shot Rachel a dirty look. "I hate you."

* * *

"_Walk like a man, talk like a man, walk like a man, my son._"

"You're a little flat this morning."

Rachel smirked at the bathroom curtain as there was a crash followed by the sound of Noah slipping, and then the sound of the curtain ripping as Noah used it to catch himself from falling onto the bottom of the tub. She knew she shouldn't take amusement out of bothering him while he was in the shower, but honestly? It was just too much fun to pass up most days. Still, she managed to hold back her giggle; she was classier than that.

"God damn it, Rachel!" Noah hissed under his breath as he poked his head out from behind the curtain, soap suds clinging to his face as he squinted at her hovering over the sink cross-legged. "Do we have to have the bathroom talk every day? A stud needs some alone time."

She pressed her lips together for a moment before shooting him a patronizing look. "I'm fully aware of the need for healthy teenaged men to give into self-care, and-"

A look of horror passed across his face. "If you're giving me a lecture about masturbation, I'm going to kill you, Berry." But his threat didn't sound threatening when he had soap in his eyes.

"I'm already dead."

He groaned. "You know, normal people like to have time alone. Not even married people spend all their time together. Give my brain a rest." And with that he disappeared back into the shower.

"Are you masturbating right now?"

And this time when Noah slipped, he really did hit the bottom of the tub.

* * *

"Oh, c'mon, Noah. _Bye bye, baby, I don't a mean maybe. Gonna get along somehow._" She sang, trying to get him to join in on the song with her.

He stared straight ahead at the road, which was strange, considering he normally wasn't the world's most attentive driver.

"_Soon you'll be cryin' on account of all your lyin'. Oh yeah, just look who's laughin' now._"

He still didn't join in.

"Noah." Rachel scolded him, her lips pressed together in a tight line as she studied him. "Sing with me. The song sounds much better with the harmony."

His jaw clenched, and he glanced at her out of the corner of his eye, which was a start. "I'm not talking to you." He announced. "You tried to kill me this morning so I can be a freak like you and be stuck with you forever."

Even though she knew he was just saying those things to try and hurt her, they still hurt. She never could understand why he didn't want to spend all his time with her. Didn't he like her? He seemed to like her when he was a little kid and she told him what to say when the teacher called on him, and got him the lead in every elementary school play, but now he wanted nothing to do with her and it hurt. Because what was the point in being with someone forever if they didn't even want you there in the first place?

"I didn't try to kill you…" She muttered under her breath, but didn't say anything else. In fact, the rest of the ride to the high school was spent in complete silence. She didn't even hover near him in any of his classes. After all, it was what he wanted, right? But at lunch, she gave in and went looking for him. And that was when all the trouble started.

Noah was standing in the middle of a deserted hallway with that Santana girl he insisted upon wasting his time with. Immediately Rachel ducked around the corner so he wouldn't see her, but poked her head out just enough so that she could still see what was going on. Whatever she'd walked in on couldn't be good. Santana was thrusting a stack of papers at Noah and she had a strange look on her face.

"Look, Puck. You're hot and all and I'm into that, but you need to know that unlike the other girls in your life, I'm not an idiot." She lectured her hands on her hips. "I know you're cheating on me."

He held the papers to his chest, not even bothering to look at them, and sighed heavily. "You're breaking up with me." It wasn't a question, but more of a matter of fact statement.

Santana teased her lip between her teeth for a moment before shaking her head at him. "No." She finally announced, earning a shocked look from Noah. "I'm hot; you're hot. Let's face it. We make the perfect couple. I'm head cheerleader, and you might not be the captain of the football team or the basketball team, but we both know Finn doesn't have any real power. You're the real leader when it comes to both of those teams; you're the one they listen to. Honey, together we could rule this school."

A look of confusion slid onto Noah's features as he tried to piece together what Santana was trying to tell him. "Babe, put this into English for me."

She smirked at him. "Dump the Rachel chick I've heard you talking to on your Bluetooth, and I'll make sure you're the most popular boy in McKinley history." There was an unmistakable sultry quality that Rachel didn't quite understand. What was with this girl?

Noah grinned at Santana before tossing the papers in the trash bin behind him and stepping closer to the cheerleader. "Yeah? And what else is in it for me?" He asked his lips inches from hers.

"Aside from having the privilege of being on my arm?" Santana snapped at him, a coy smile playing on her lips despite how harsh her words sounded. She took Noah's arms and put his hands over her rear end. "I'll let you stick it anywhere you want."

Rachel stared scandalized at the scene in front of her.

"Any where?" Noah asked in a low voice, staring at Santana.

She nodded at him as she pressed herself closer to him, and ground her body against his. "Any where." She affirmed before giving him a chaste kiss and slipping out of his grasp. "Dump Rachel and all of this is yours." And with that Santana was gone.

Noah stood in the hallway watching Santana's retreating form. His hands slid into his pockets, and he just blinked, as though he was still trying to process what Santana had just told him. Frankly, Rachel was just confused. He could stick _what_ where? Both Santana and Puck had seemed to understand the reference, but she still didn't get it. Maybe if she asked him he would tell her. Because there was no way that he was actually going to "dump" her, right? It's not like he really could get rid of her. They've been stuck together for seventeen years.

Slowly Rachel glided up to Noah, hovering just behind him. "You know, Noah, we honestly should have thought of the Bluetooth excuse ages ago." She mused thoughtfully. "It really does help to explain why you're talking to yourself."

He didn't respond to her.

"Noah?" She questioned.

Again, he didn't say anything to her instead he moved away from her and hollered out, "Hey Hudson!"

Relief washed through Rachel. Finn was in the hallway; that's why Noah wasn't speaking to her. It had nothing to do with that awful Santana girl. He just didn't want Finn to hear him talking to himself. It made perfect sense. So she followed after him.

Finn was rummaging around in his locker for something. He glanced up at Noah, grinning before turning back to his locker. "Hey, man." He pulled out one of those tacky newsprint tabloid magazines, showing Noah the cover. "You hear about this prophet girl? The Amazing Quinn? She talks to dead people like you used to say you did. She lives in Cleveland." He handed it to Noah. "Thought you might be into it."

Noah's jaw clenched for a moment, but he just shrugged and shoved the tabloid into his backpack. "Cool." He fidgeted nervously.

"So, did Santana break up with you?"

Suddenly Noah was grinning from ear to ear. "Nah, man. She wants to be exclusive." And he said this with such excitement that it took the eavesdropping Rachel by surprise. She didn't even realize that he actually liked her. Especially since he'd been cheating on her with cougars the entire length of their relationship.

Finn closed his locker and frowned at Noah. "I thought you didn't like Santana…" He sounded just as confused as Rachel felt.

"Dude, she said if I stopped screwing around on her, I get access to both the front door and the back door." There was a smarmy tone to Noah's voice and it took Rachel a couple of moments to realize what he was insinuating.

"Noah!" She shrieked at him. "That's disgusting!"

However, Finn still didn't understand what Noah had just hinted at. He blinked for a moment. Then he frowned. Then he blinked some more. "What?" He finally asked Noah.

He shook his head incredulously at his best friend. "Really?" He asked, chuckling lightly. "There's a reason why you're still a virgin, dude." And with that he started walking away from Finn.

It still didn't click for Finn, and then… "Wait a second! Santana's letting you have sex with her? Isn't she in the celibacy club?" And with that he was running after Noah.

Rachel stared after the two boys, not moving until Noah got too far away and the ghost gravitational pull literally dragged her after him. Suddenly she was realizing that maybe he had been purposely ignoring her earlier after all.

Stupid Santana Lopez.

* * *

It wasn't until they were driving home from school and stopped at the drug store that Rachel realized Noah was seriously going to go through with this plan. He was going to ignore her so he could have sex with his girlfriend. And Rachel had done everything to get his attention. She'd yelled, and screamed, and even accidentally blew out all the school intercom speakers at McKinley. She'd tried it all, and he was still ignoring her. And even worse, he was walking to the pharmacy window.

"Noah?" She questioned. "What are you doing?"

He ignored her. Again. "Prescription for Puckerman." He told the man behind the counter.

Rachel's eyes widened as she stared at him. "Noah Elijah Puckerman! You are not about to do what I think you're about to do!" She scolded him, feeling the panic set in. Was he really about to leave her all alone simply because the girl he had the hots for told him to? That was not acceptable!

"Normal people get to go to the bathroom by themselves." He mumbled under his breath at her. "Normal people don't have to worry about their imaginary friend watching them whack off." He took a deep breath. "I just want to be normal, Rach. What's wrong with that?" And he went back to ignoring her and paid the pharmacist.

She stared at him, and took a deep breath before blurting out, "And you don't think I want to be normal, Noah?! I'm dead! I stopped being normal a long time ago, and you don't seem to care about how I feel about this situation. The only person you care about is yourself!" She stomped her feet, even though it made absolutely no sound. "You're being entirely selfish about this entire situation! I think we need to sit down and reevaluate our options, Noah. A pro-con list seems to be the most appropriate solution in situations like the one we're currently in."

He grabbed his prescription from the pharmacist and stalked out of the drug store. "There is no _us_." He hissed, completely ignoring the fact that an elderly couple and their granddaughter were staring at them.

"Look, Mama. He has an imaginary friend, too. Lucky. She's prettier than my wolf man."

The grandmother rolled her eyes. "Hush now, baby."

Rachel blinked at them, cocking her head to the side before waving at the little girl, frowning when the little girl waved right back. Other people saw her sometimes, but mostly they were legitimately schizophrenic. Then again, she'd learned that some people were just more susceptible to ghosts then others. Otherwise Noah would never have been able to see her, right? She shook the thoughts out of her head, and realized he was still talking to her.

"And there is no _we_. There's just me, Rach. That's it." And with that, he climbed into the cab of his truck and ripped open his package. Without allowing her to say anything else, he popped open his bottle of Abilify and dry swallowed a pill.

Too mad at him to speak, she floated into the bed of the truck and didn't even try to say a word to him for the rest of the evening. Surely, he really wouldn't be able to actually go through with this plan of his. He'd never done anything one of his girlfriends asked of him before. She really didn't see him actually following through with this insane plan of his; he hated his medications, especially since he really didn't need them.

She gave this plan of his a week max.

* * *

Bored, Rachel laid across the length of the kitchen table as she attempted to ignore the fact that it had been nearly two months since Noah had actually been taking his medications. Two months, and he hadn't said a word to her. His hands shook like crazy throughout basketball practice and yet, he kept taking his medications and she hated it. She hated him, and she hated Santana. But mostly she just missed him.

It wasn't fun having no one to talk to any more and he didn't even sing these days. All he did was play basketball, hang out with Finn and spend time with Santana, which still surprised her. He'd been seriously dating her for almost two months now and Rachel was still in shock. This wasn't how things were supposed to go; he wasn't supposed to leave her alone. It wasn't fair. She couldn't compete with Santana; she gave Noah sex. What could Rachel give him? Even if he could hear her, she couldn't touch him. It was frustrating.

Sighing, she stared blankly up at the ceiling, trying to ignore the fact Noah and Santana had been up in his room for a very long time now. God, she couldn't handle this anymore. All she wanted was her best friend back. Was that so bad?

"What would daddy say?" She suddenly mused out loud as she rolled onto her stomach. "I've been sitting her moping for months now, and Rachel Berry does not mope. She goes after what she wants and she gets it." Suddenly she was on her feet and grinning from ear to ear. "That's it. If Noah thinks he can keep this up, then he has another thing coming. I'm Rachel Berry and he doesn't know who he's messing with. If Noah wants to play games, then bring it on."

Immediately Rachel began plotting her revenge. Because no one ignores Rachel Berry. She'd put up with this for long enough. Now, it was time to go to war.

Noah Puckerman was never going to know what hit him.


	4. Chapter 3: Never Piss Off a Ghost

**Heart and Soul**

Notes: I am so terribly sorry that it has taken me months to update this story. Real life took over and sabotaged this story, but now I'm an unemployed recent college grad with all the time in the world to work on this story in between job interviews. So here's your update! :) Oh, and this chapter wound up being super long so I split it up into two parts. I'll probably post the second half on Monday or Tuesday. It depends on how many reviews I get in all honesty. It'll inspire me to post it sooner. Happy reading! Oh, and I apologize for the jumpiness. For some reason this story wants to read like an episode of the show, so there's a lot of scene jumping. I apologize in advance if you're not into that.

* * *

1997

It was three in the morning and Noah's had been crying for hours to the point where Ruth wasn't even looking in on him anymore. And, God, Rachel wished she had the same option to walk away from the four year old because right now she honestly felt like killing him. He was sick, and had thrown up multiple times. So Rachel completely understood that he was in pain, and that his stomach still hurt and that he didn't know what else to do other than cry, but that didn't mean she liked the fact that he had been crying for so long she could have sworn her ears were bleeding. And once Ruth left the room, she had started trying to figure out her own ways of getting the toddler to stop crying.

"_Without you_," She sang to him, in the softest gentlest voice that she could manage, like it was a lullaby and not a song from a show that she was supposed to be in that won a Tony even though she should have been the one playing Maureen. "_The ground thaws, the rain falls, the grass grows. Without you, the seeds root, the flowers bloom, the children play. The stars gleam, the poets dream-_"

But a loud wail from Noah cut her off. She sighed, and ran a hand through her hair. What was she supposed to do with him? She honestly didn't know. Hell, she'd never even really known a child until she was thrown into Noah's life, until she died. How ironic was that? She'd never even known a kid until she was dead.

She racked her brain for a song, any song to sing that would get Noah to quiet and fall back asleep. Without even thinking, she started singing, "_Walk like a man, talk like a man, walk like a man, my son."_ She had absolutely no idea where that song was coming from; she hadn't listened to the Four Seasons in years, but apparently it was one of those catchy oldies songs that you couldn't help but remember the lyrics to. Whatever it was, it was calming Noah down. And Rachel decided right then and there that it must be a magic song if it could soothe Noah. "_No woman's worth crawling on the earth. Just walk like a man my son."_

He looked up at her sleepily for a moment before giving her a huge yawn. "Love you, Berry." For some reason "Rachel" was still a word Noah had problems with and it always came out all jumbled when he tried to say it. So most of the time he just called her by her last name; it was easier. And with that, he rolled over, put his thumb in his mouth and fell asleep, only whimpering slightly due to the pain in his stomach.

She just kept singing along as he drifted off to sleep. "_Oo wee oo wee oo. Walk. Oo wee oo wee oo. Walk. I'm gonna walk like a man, fast as I can. Walk like a man from you. I'll tell the world to forget about it girl and walk like a man from you._"

And as he slept, she couldn't help but to think again that this was a magic song.

* * *

Present

How dare he forget about her? It wasn't allowed! It wasn't acceptable. The fates had decided she needed to take care of him for his entire life, and how could she take care of him if he was purposely ignoring her with those drugs of his? It was absolutely unacceptable, and she was done supporting him (or rather brooding over being alone) and she was doing something about it. The only problem was that she didn't really know how. Sure, she had some plans and they were all really good plans and ideas. The only problem was that she didn't know how to see them through. She couldn't actually touch anything, and all of her plans involved her actually being able to move things, which of course had made her think about the radio.

She could move his radio. Or at least turn it on, which meant in theory that she was capable of moving things with her mind. She just had to figure out a way to make things move when she wanted them to and not just when she was furious with Noah.

Rachel stood in the basement, staring blankly at the old TV and radio covered in dust sitting on the floor. There had to be some way to get them to move. It wasn't like she was constitutionally incapable. Sure, she was dead, but that didn't make her useless. She knew she could move things; she just had to figure out how.

Her fingers hovered above the old radio, as though testing that the radio was real. Then she touched it. Immediately her hand went through it and she winced. Going through an object was just about one of the most uncomfortable feelings one could suffer through. It was like that sensation that happens when someone draws their nails across a chalkboard: that grating, chilling sensation that runs through your body. Going through an object made her feel all that, except she was the chalkboard that the sound was coming from. The sensation reverberated through her ghostly body and she absolutely detested that sensation.

Immediately she removed her hand, and shook it out, like that would make it any different. "Stupid solid objects…" God, couldn't fate see that she needed to get revenge on Noah, which she needed to be able to touch things to do. With those medications polluting his otherwise healthy body, he couldn't see her, but if she could move things… Well, then he couldn't ignore her, could he?

Rachel paced the length of the basement since her first attempt didn't exactly go according to plan. "Stupid Noah…" She whined out childishly. "Insensitive jerk. He's incredibly careless. He doesn't' care about the fortune of others. The only person who matters to him is his own self. It's absolutely unhealthy, and he should know this. It isn't like he hasn't seen countless therapists over the years. They've done exercises to try to correct this about him. And does he care? No! His capacity for caring about others shouldn't be as low as it currently is, and-"

That was when she realized that both the radio and the television were turned on. Her eyes widened and she glanced behind them both to see if maybe they'd been turned on this entire time and in her rage she just hadn't noticed.

They weren't plugged in. She'd made them turn on! That was her! That was her! She'd done it! She'd figured it out. But how… Anger!

All she needed to do was channel her anger, and she'd be able to touch things. The possibilities were endless.

A smile slid onto her face. Noah Puckerman was going to suffer for abandoning her.

* * *

Puck did not want to get up for school. Hell, most days he didn't want to go to school, but today it was different. He hadn't gotten home from Santana's until three in the morning—not that he'd meant to stay that late. They'd fallen asleep, and Mrs. Lopez had found him and her daughter naked, in bed, when she'd gotten home from her shift at the bar. The crazy Mexican bitch had chased him around the house with a baseball bat while Santana had occasionally (and lazily) screamed at her to stop. Needless to say, Puck knew he wasn't going to be getting a lot of sleep, and his plan was to convince his mother that he was sick to at least skip his morning classes and sleep in.

So when his alarm clock went off, and it felt like he hadn't even gotten any sleep, he didn't think much of it at first. He just slapped at the snooze button, expecting the music coming from the clock to stop. Nothing happened. The music just continued playing.

Frowning, Puck sat up, and looked at the clock. It was only four-thirty. "The hell…" He muttered under his breath as he turned his alarm off. It didn't strike him as weird at first; he figured he must have accidentally hit the wrong time or Sarah fucked with the time or something as a joke. It wouldn't be the first time… So he just rolled over and went back to sleep, figuring his mom would just have to wake him up if she really wanted him to go to school today.

"_Walk like a man. Talk like a man. Walk like a man, my son!_"

Puck shot awake and stared in horror at his alarm clock. Four forty-five. He blinked. What the fuck was wrong with his radio today? "Shit…" He muttered under his breath, glaring daggers at the thing that was keeping him from sleeping for a good two hours still, maybe longer if he could work his magic with his mom. For a moment, he just stared at it before deciding, "Fuck it." And with that he yanked the plug out of the wall. Then he went back to sleep.

"_Take me for what I am. Who I was meant to be. And if you give a damn. Take me baby, or leave me!_"

He bolted upright. What the fuck? He'd unplugged the radio! He'd unplugged the radio. Did his mom put batteries in it? Shit, he didn't know anything about alarm clocks. What did he know? It must have been short-circuiting or something, which must mean it's a sign for him to not get any sleep today. Sighing, he rolled out of bed and changed into his running clothes. He might as well do something productive.

And as he left his room, he could have sworn the door opened for him, but he blamed the lack of sleep for that one because the pills were totally working. He wasn't stuck listening to Berry's insane rambling for once in his life. Besides, it wasn't like she could move shit before; it couldn't be her. He was just running on lack of sleep, which was also his excuse as to why the radio kept changing channels when he drove to school: lack of sleep.

* * *

"Puck?" A frown was on Finn's face as she stared at his best friend, who was currently leaning against the lockers, face buried into the metal. "What are you doing?"

There was a groan. "Baking a cake."

Finn frowned. "What? No you're not…" He sounded very confused.

Groaning again, Puck pulled his face away from the locker and righted himself to look at Finn. "Remind me why we're friends again?" He deadpanned.

"Oh, because of daycare." He responded with, not even missing a beat.

Puck stared at him incredulously, wondering yet again how in the hell they were friends… How did he find a friend who completely missed his sarcasm? That made no sense to him, but he didn't have much time to think about it because-

"Finn. Go away." Santana announced upon arrival, her hands planted firmly on her hips as she glared at Puck, not even giving Finn a glance in his direction.

The taller boy didn't move at first. "Oh, well, me and Puck have class together next period. We were going to walk to class together, and-"

"Then go wait over there." She snapped, still only looking at Puck.

Finn hovered near the couple for a moment longer before shuffling off over towards the trashcan at the end of the hall to wait for Puck.

Santana waited until Finn was out of earshot before rounding on Puck. "You didn't pick me up this morning." She accused.

"Are you kidding me?" Puck stared at his girlfriend in total bewilderment. "Your mom tried to play bash the Puckerone last night, and you thought I'd be stupid enough to go anywhere near your house? Jesus, San!"

She smirked at him. "Oh, is the big bad Puck afraid of a five foot Mexican woman?" She taunted. "And here I thought you were a stud."

He glared at her. "I am a stud, baby, but I'm not suicidal." He lowered his voice to a conspiratorial whisper. "Your mom is a crazy bitch."

"I should have known you wouldn't be able to man up and handle a relationship with me." She commented idly.

Puck snorted and pinned her against the lockers. "Oh, babe, I'm more than man enough to deal with your crazy ass. I just don't want your mom's ass." He murmured before kissing her.

The warning bell rang, and Santana grinned before pulling away and practically dancing out of his grasp. "You're taking me to dinner tomorrow night." And with that she was gone.

He stared after her for a moment before shaking his head, wondering idly for a moment why again he'd thought it was a good idea to have a serious relationship with Santana Lopez. But then he caught a nice view of her ass, and remembered quite well why this was a good idea again. Laughing to himself, he opened his locker and actually grabbed the book for his and Finn's next class.

"Are you really not cheating on Santana?" Finn asked with a frown as he leaned next to Puck's locker, trying to piece together the strangeness that was Puck and Santana's relationship. "Because I really don't understand why you're dating her. You don't even like her, do you?"

Shrugging, Puck threw his book into his backpack and slung the bag over his shoulder. "What can I say? I'll do anything to get laid on a regular basis, bro."

Finn grinned and shook his head. "I wish I had your nerve sometimes."

Suddenly Puck's locker slammed shut. The boys stared at the locker, neither saying a word. "Uh, Puck?"

"I didn't do that."

"Are you sure?" Finn asked rubbing his hand over his eyes as though to make sure he'd really just seen what he'd seen. "Because I really think your locker closed on its own." Suddenly a thought flashed across Finn's face. "Do you think it's your-" He lowered his voice to a whisper.

"Don't even go there." Puck snapped as he stormed away from both his locker and from Finn, heading towards class.

The final bell rang, marking them tardy.

Finn followed after him. "But you're the one who used to try so hard to convince me that she was real."

Immediately Puck came to a dead stop in the mostly empty hallway. "I made her up, okay?" He lied, looking everywhere but at Finn. "I was bored so I started making up stories about a wannabe Broadway star, okay? Rachel Berry is nothing but a loser. I don't need her anymore. I never needed her."

The speakers crackled through the hallway, a cue for the morning announcements to begin. Immediately Puck and Finn started moving towards their classroom again. "_Walk like a man. Talk like a man. Walk like a man, my son!_"

Puck stopped in the middle of the hallway again. Finn crashed into him.

"Hey. Isn't that the song you used to sing to yourself when you thought no one was listening?" Finn pointed out cheerfully.

All Puck could do was stare at the speakers in complete and utter horror. There was no way… But then again it was Rachel and she could really do anything she wanted to when she put her mind to it… She'd gotten him to give up meat for nearly six months (it helped that he was trying to get into this Vegan girl's pants, but he was never going to tell Berry that part. Ever), and that had been nearly impossible. But he still couldn't believe it. "Yeah…"

"Isn't that a ghost song?"

A couple of classroom doors opened as first period teachers sent students to see why "Walk Like a Man" was playing instead of morning announcements.

"Yeah." Puck finally looked at Finn. "But I mean, it can't be Berry. I sent her away. She's gone. She's at the place."

Finn frowned. "The place?"

"The place where the ghosts go. It can't be her."

And that's when the fire alarm went off. Suddenly the hallways were filled with people. But the music still managed to be heard over the fire alarm. "_Ooo-ooo-ooo-woo-woo-woo. Walk! Walk!_"

"Um, Puck?"

"Yeah, Finn?"

"I don't think she's gone."

Puck blinked as he and Finn just stood in the hallway as people rushed towards the exits but he and Finn stayed in the hallway. "Dude, it can't be her. She's not a cool ghost. Just an annoying one."

That's when the sprinklers went off. The boys still didn't move as the water poured down on them.

"Hey, Puck?"

There was a grunt in response.

"I think your ghost is really mad at you."

"No shit."

* * *

"Noah, what were you and Finn thinking setting off the school fire alarm? Detention for a month? Both suspended for three basketball games this season? What am I supposed to tell your grandmother?"

He sighed at his mother, knowing better than to try and tell her that his ghost did it. Hell, he still wasn't even sure _he_ believed it. It's not like this was common behavior for his ghost. And shit, maybe it was all just a coincidence. Hell, a part of him was convinced that all of this could have been Coach Sylvester. After all, she never did forgive him for that pregnancy scare with one of her cheerios last year, and she was crazy enough to pull this bullshit. Not that his mom would ever believe that one either.

"Sorry, ma." And with that he abandoned his TV tray and left the room. He went into the bathroom to take his pills. The bottle wasn't in there. Frowning, he went into his bedroom. Nothing. "Ma? You seen my meds?"

"The bottle was empty. They can't fill your prescription until Friday."

Two days. He could go two days without his meds. Except after the hallway fiasco and the three hours in Principal Figgins' office, he wasn't completely sure if it was true. Especially when he realized he didn't know the last time he'd taken his meds.

Shit.

* * *

"_Noah, it's already six am. Are you really planning on sleeping your day away?"_

Puck immediately jerked awake, and glanced around the room wildly. He could have sworn that he heard Rachel, but she was nowhere in sight. Weird. "Rach?" He whispered out, hoping she wouldn't really respond to him. God, he liked these past couple of months when he'd been sane, when he'd been normal, and he didn't exactly want her back in his life.

When there was no response, he sighed in relief, but he didn't want to chance another repeat of yesterday. He looked wearily at his alarm clock before forcing himself out of bed and onto his morning run. Already he could tell that today was going to be a very long day.

In all honesty, Puck was surprised to not see Rachel. He was waiting for her to jump out at him from every corner, but she didn't. Hell, he even sang in the shower, expecting Rachel to tell him he was flat or sharp, but she didn't correct him. So by the time that he was in his truck, he was convinced that he'd just imagined the events of yesterday. Which was why he figured it would be an okay idea to pick up Santana for school, and risk her crazy mother.

He was just turning the corner onto her street when it happened.

"Noah? Are you even listening to me?"

He glanced over, and there, sitting in the passenger seat, legs crossed, hovering in the air was Rachel. Shocked, he took the corner too fast, the car went flying over the curb, and went flying into the Hummel's front yard.

"Oh my God! Noah?"

The world went black.

* * *

"Oh, Noah. I'm so sorry. If I'd known that you would freak out like that I would have waited until you were at a stoplight. I honestly didn't think that you would-"

The light filtered into the room and Puck blinked against it as Rachel rambled on and on about… Wait. What was she going on about? Oh, right. His car. Crazy ghost bitch had made him crash his car.

"Rachel, shut the fuck up." He muttered out as he decided it was nicer to keep his eyes closed opposed to open.

"She's in here right now?" Finn sounded panicked at the thought at being alone with a ghost.

Puck's eyes flew open at the sound of his best friend's voice. He glanced around and sure enough there was Finn, sitting at the edge of his bed, his PSP in his hands. Next to him, Rachel was fluttering around, and that was the only way Puck could think of to describe it since she was floating a good foot off the ground. Holy shit. She'd must have taken a super ghost class or two when he'd been busy being normal. Thankfully they were the only ones in the room.

He groaned and leaned against the pillows that smelled suspiciously like bleach. Great. The hospital. He really hated hospitals, but on the bright side he wasn't in the psych ward… "Yeah, dude." What else could he do now? It wasn't like Finn didn't believe him. After the events of yesterday, Puck was very much aware of how 'the truth was out there' Finn suddenly was. He'd texted him this morning to ask if he'd ever met other ghosts. God he'd been a lot less annoying when he didn't completely believe him. "She's actually right behind you. Hey, Berry? Stop hovering long enough to give me what's in his hands."

Rachel paused for a moment and shot Puck a confused look before picking the PSP out of Finn's hands and moving next to Puck. She handed it to him before frowning. "Now really, Puck, what was the point in that? Are you trying to scare-" And that was when it clicked in Rachel's head that Puck had asked her to do that because that was the only way Finn could actually see that she was there. She blinked for a moment before snatching the PSP back from Puck and returning it to Finn. "Stop being mean."

Finn stared down at his PSP in complete horror. "Dude." He breathed. "She really is real."

Puck rolled his eyes at Finn before turning his attentions back to Rachel. "You gonna tell me how you became a superghost?" His eyes lit up excitedly. "Did you meet some dude in the subway who taught you how to break beer bottles?"

She blinked at him. "Noah, is that supposed to mean something to me?"

"_Ghost_?" He tried, and when she didn't react to the movie title he continued on. "You've seen the movie. What do you do when we watch movies?"

Her hands went to her hips as she studied him, annoyance playing across her features. "I recite lines from my shows." She replied pompously.

Finn stared at Puck for a moment. "I'm pretty sure you're not talking to me, but you should probably stop talking because your mom is going to be here to check you out soon. She was here earlier, but after the doctor said you were fine, she left. Oh, and Santana was here, too."

"And did she stick around? No. Cheerleading practice is more important than you. What kind of relationship is that, Noah?"

Not realizing Rachel was talking as well, Finn continued on. "She's still expecting you to take her out tonight and apparently I'm loaning you my car? Or at least Santana told me you were driving my car… But don't let the ghost drive it, okay? I mean, look what she did to your car."

Puck sighed and leaned back against the pillows. Why couldn't he be normal again?


End file.
